Wednesday, April 12, 2017

Foot woes

I saw the podiatrist on Monday, it is definitely bone spurs. Haglund's Deformity, the exact same thing I had back in 1986. I had the surgery in 86, and it was a very long and painful recovery. This time surgery will be last resort. Mainly because if I don't work, I don't get paid. Not being able to walk will put me out of work indefinitely since I am on my feet continuously at work. I had a desk job in 86, so I could work. Not so lucky this time. With no other source of income other than my job, this is not an option.

The game plan is anti inflammatories, ice and elevation initially. From there we go to topical anti inflammatories and a walking boot. If that doesn't work, it is surgery. In the meantime I will continue to look for a job where I don't have to stand and walk on concrete floors for 8 plus hours a day. At some point, I should be able to find something. Patience.

The doctor wasn't real happy with my choice of shoes. He says that I need a rigid base. The Telics are about the only thing I can wear right now and they don't have a rigid base. The Teva's would be better, but there is no cushion in them. I need the cushion for the heel on the concrete floor. If we can find a way to manage the pain, I will go back to the Teva's, but I think I am done with any shoe that has a back on it. No more Merrells, nothing. Anything that will compress the back of my foot is out of the question.

Yesterday I went and had the X rays. I am appalled at the degree of unprofessionalism I experienced. The tech was the least professional professional I have ever seen. She was telling me her life story complete with bad language…she talked non stop about herself and her daughter that stabbed her boyfriend. There was absolutely no antibacterial, anti germ wipes, pads or anything in site and none were used. I put my bare feet on the same surface as other people with no wipe down, no covers, nothing. Plus, there were dead crickets on the floors that looked like they hadn’t been cleaned or swept in ages. Ugh! I wonder how often the place is inspected. She even put the right foot marker on the left foot picture….I had to tell her it was wrong. She gave me the CD to give to the doctor at my next appointment. Strange. But I found the images on the disc and copied them to my computer.

These are the pictures of my right foot. I am no pro at this, but I don't see any stress fractures. Doesn't mean they aren't there tho.

They did the left foot and there is a sizeable spur on the top of the heel, but that one doesn't bother me. Although it may eventually.

I finished the Z pack for the cold/allergies on Monday. Now I am waiting for the side effects to subside. It has been a rough start to the year for me. Seems like I have been sick in some form or another since January. Time to start feeling better and get some ambition and motivation. Still sneezing, sniffling and coughing, but I am much better than I was at this time last week.

Here are the latest garden pics. Some things are doing well, some not so well. The plants that Rob the bread guy gave me and said they were rhubarb are actually beets. I tasted one, definitely beets.

Marigolds are starting to bloom

First sunflower

All sunflowers have buds

Purple statice is looking good (from seed)

Pots of geraniums, statice, gazanias and marigolds

A baby lemon cuke!

Nasturiums

Almost ready to pick

Pepper plant is finally blooming

Mustard greens, one of my favorites

Lemon cukes

Mixed bag

All in all, the garden is doing well. We'll see how it makes out when it gets over 100 degrees 24/7. I have the kit to hook the hanging planters into the automatic watering, just have to set it up.

My new 3.0 cubic foot freezer came on Saturday. I got it into place and raised it up on 4x4's to bring it closer to counter height. Now all I have to do is figure out a way to cover the back so I don't have to look at it when I am in the living room. The ideal thing would be to build a counter extension.housing for it, but that would cost money. For now, I think I will try a sheet of poster board. That would at least cover up the aluminum back.

I had to relocate everything on the wire shelf and moved the shelf out to the patio since I didn't like the way it looked here. At some point I need to go thru the cupboards again and get rid of the stuff I don't use.